A Treasured Memory
by M. L. Ayala
Summary: Genesis thinks back on a memory of just before he joined SOLDIER. Armed with disguises, wooden swords, and a bundle of dumbapples, he and Angeal tried to sneak into a gathering of SOLDIER members in hopes of meeting Sephiroth.
1. Chapter 1

Genesis stood overlooking the remains of Banora. Little was left of the town, Shinra had seen to that. Only a few of the Banora White trees had survived, and they weren't in the greatest shape. Genesis sighed and returned to the catacombs, which had survived the blasts.

After descending, Genesis folded his black wing back so that it was out of his way. He smiled wryly as he remembered the first few days, years before, when so simple a movement had seemed so strange and difficult to him. That time had been full of anger and panic. the need for revenge. The need to bring Shinra to ruins, the way they had ruined Banora. But those needs weren't what was driving him now.

Genesis walked the short path up to where he had brought what remained of his old life. He let his gaze wander over the photographs and other items. The degradation process may have torn away at his body – altering his appearance, replacing his usual colors with tints and shades of gray, and slowly, slowly killing him – but it hadn't done a thing to his memory. Every picture, every trinket, called forth a memory from the early days of his life.

A photo of him and Angeal when they were barely twelve years old, grinning from ear to ear as they practiced fighting with wooden swords, pretending they were members of SOLDIER. A mangled copy of _LOVELESS_, which had somehow found its way into one of the dog houses after he and Angeal had gotten into an argument with some of the other kids in the village, alongside Angeal's first wooden sword, which had suffered a similar fate. Genesis smiled as he remembered how he and Angeal had spent the rest of that week planning their revenge.

There were more photos, letters, even more little trinkets and books, all reminders of a home now gone. Genesis turned to leave, go down the other pathway and continue looking for the gift of the goddess, which would stop his degradation, when one of the articles caught his eye. It was one of the few photos of him without Angeal nearby, instead he stood with his parents. They held a bushel of their award winning dumbapples, smiling broadly at the camera. The article told of the contest they had won, and quoted his younger self in his exclamation of how he wished he could give some of the best apples in Banora to the hero Sephiroth.

He had almost done it, too. If it hadn't been for…

XXxxXXxxXX

"Genesis!" A knock on the window. "Genesis, wake up!" More pounding on the window. "Come on! You're going to miss your chance!"

Genesis sat up quickly, falling out of bed with a thump as he tried to disentangle himself from his sheets. He stood and opened the window, squinting out into the dark summer night. A shadow clung to the tree branch just outside his window. He moved back into his room and grabbed the bundle of stuff he had hidden in the back of his closet, then moved back to the window, tip-toeing in the hopes that no one else was awake in the house. When he leaned out the window this time the shadow had moved down to the ground below the window.

"Here, catch," he whispered as he dropped his stuff down, then jumped and grabbed the tree branch. He slid down the tree trunk and landed solidly on his accomplice's foot. He moved off, quickly looking over his shoulder as the other let out a low moan. "Sorry Angeal, I didn't see you there," he kept an innocent look as Angeal straightened and threw the bundle at Genesis.

"What did you put in there anyway?" Angeal asked as they started walking away from the house. "It weighs a ton."

Genesis grinned and kept silent, hurrying through the orchard. The Banora white trees reached gracefully above them, their brilliant white trunks glowing eerily against the sky. The two walked on under the arches made by the trees stretching from one side of the path to the other.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone! sorry it took so long to update this. i went to finish it a while ago and i couldn't remember where i was going with it :( but i'm back to working on it, so hopefully it will be finished soon. Please R&R! I really appreciate it!

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They had traveled for more than an hour, well outside of the village, and the elegant trees with their purple fruit had been left far behind. The sky was a light shade of gray, gradually brightening to blue, when they stopped to rest briefly.

Genesis set down the bundle that he had been carrying, and glanced up to find Angeal staring at it, trying to hide his curiosity. "Wait," he said as he pulled it open a little bit and reached inside. "I'll show you everything in a little bit. But you have to be patient." Genesis pulled out two dumbapples that he had grabbed as they left the village.

Angeal took the one offered to him, still eyeing the bundle. "Genesis…" Angeal's gaze shifted to him and back, "Don't tell me that you have costumes in there…"

Genesis' wicked grin returned and he pulled the bundle closer to him, resting his hand on it so that Angeal couldn't snatch it. "Why would you ever think that, Angeal?"

"You do, don't you? What is it this time?" Angeal glanced nervously at the bundle. "Nothing like last time-"

"Of course not. I'm appalled that you would even think that I would do something like that again. Especially after what happened." They both fell silent for an instant, thinking about their last escapade. Genesis shrugged and stood up. "Let's go. We still have a long way to go." Angeal followed close behind as they continued their trek across the field.

Half an hour later, the sun was relentlessly beating down on them as they approached their destination. Angeal stopped and glanced around, then said "the SOLDIER operatives should be close by. If you have something planned, now would be a good time to tell me." He turned toward Genesis with a calm but impatient expression.

"If you're concerned about how this will affect your honor, Angeal, don't worry," Genesis teased as he started opening the bundle.

"I was more concerned with my dignity," Angeal mumbled as Genesis shook out some blue fabric. He held it out to Angeal, who realized it was a SOLDIER 3rd class uniform. "Where did you get that?" He said with one eyebrow raised as he took and examined the clothes.

"Do you really want to know?" Genesis cocked his head to the side and watched Angeal's expression.

"I'd rather not."

"I didn't think so." Genesis pulled out an identical outfit for himself, then two helmets, and finally a smaller, lumpy bundle.

After they both had changed, Angeal watched Genesis hide the smaller bundle in his helmet, which he was carrying. Angeal pulled on his helmet and checked his reflection in a nearby stream. He was surprised at how much he looked like an actual SOLDIER member. Going back to where Genesis was waiting, he noticed that he was still not wearing his helmet.

"Genesis, this whole plan will fall apart if they see your face," he warned. "You don't look anything like a SOLDIER member."

"It's not how you look Angeal, it's how you act," he started walking with a swagger, holding his head high and acting with an air of confidence that was much more exaggerated than his normal persona. "And how would you know what a SOLDIER member looks like, you've never actually seen one in person."

"Neither have you," Angeal shot back. "Really Genesis, do you think we're going to be able to walk into that camp unnoticed?"

"Why not? All we have to do is tell them that we were left behind when they first left and only now caught up with them."

Angeal looked skeptical, to say the least, but he had to admit, if anyone could pull it off it would be Genesis. His friend's sense for the theatrical was uncanny. Angeal was just glad that he hadn't decided to try to base their disguises and explanations on "Loveless" again. That was part of what had made their last escapade such a disaster.

"Alright, let's go then." Angeal started to walk off.

"Hold on! You'll need one of these, too." Angeal's look of skepticism deepened as he saw what Genesis was holding out to him.

"A wooden sword." With one eyebrow raised he gave Genesis a glare. "You really think that we'll be convincing if we walk in there with wooden swords?"

Genesis didn't answer, just shoved Angeal's sword towards him and started walking.


	3. Chapter 3

After a few minutes more of walking, they spotted a few tents set up in a clearing. Genesis held his SOLDIER helmet a little tighter as he straightened up to his full height and took a deep breath. This was the moment he had been waiting for, the opportunity to give the hero, Sephiroth, some of his family's prize winning dumbapples.

Angeal could see his friends excitement, and decided not to point out the fact that there were no SOLDIER operatives in sight, only a few Shinra infantrymen. Maybe things would play out alright, but it was starting to look like the news that had reached Banora hadn't been entirely accurate. Actually, now that he thought about it, they had never been told that SOLDIER was involved, just that a Shinra had sent a group of operatives to this area. It was never specifically stated what type of operatives, SOLDIER, infantry, or even the Turks, were in the area. When Genesis had heard the news he had immediately assumed it was SOLDIER and hadn't given a second thought to the possibility that it was another group altogether.

Genesis started walking quickly towards the camp, and Angeal followed slowly behind. Once they were in sight of the infantrymen a few walked over to them. Genesis sauntered towards them like he owned the place, keeping a cool and collected expression on his face.

"And just who might you be?" asked one of the infantrymen.

"We're members of SOLDIER. Here to join the rest of the group. We fell a little behind. Some people required our help, and we couldn't refuse them, now could we? It took us a little bit longer than expected, but now that we've finally caught up, we'd like to be taken to the rest of the SOLDIER members, if you don't mind."

The infantrymen all burst out laughing at Genesis' speech. His face turned an angry shade of red that almost matched his hair as he shouted "How dare you laugh at me! I am a member of SOLDIER!" He held out his wooden sword threateningly. "I could kill you with this in an instant and not give it a second thought! But," he looked down his nose at them, "I'm feeling merciful. So just take us to the others. Now!"

The snickering infantrymen stood straight and saluted Genesis as they fought to hide their smiles. "Yessir!" they said as they led the boys into the camp. One of them held open a tent and gestured for them to enter. "Please wait here, and we'll see if we can find the rest of the SOLDIER members for you, sir."

"That was far from you're best performance," Angeal told Genesis after they were left alone.

"I know. But do you think they bought it?"

"I doubt it." Angeal stood off to the side of the tent with his arms crossed. "Genesis, I hate to have to tell you this, but I don't think there are any members of SOLDIER in this camp."

"You don't have to sound so sarcastic Angeal. And besides, Sephiroth could still be here. If he is here they wouldn't have had to send any other SOLDIERs, he could handle it all by himself."

Instead of arguing, Angeal just shook his head and closed his eyes.

A few minutes later, the infantryman came back in. "I'm sorry to have to inform you, sirs, but it appears that you're in the wrong place. The SOLDIER operatives are on the other side of Banora. But if you start walking now, I'm sure you will be able to reach them by the end of the day tomorrow. And perhaps if you have time you can stop in Banora and have some of their famous dumbapples!" The infantryman gave them a huge grin and motioned for them leave.

The boys both stood and stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

"The **other** side of Banora?" Genesis asked quietly.

Angeal didn't say anything, he just gave Genesis a quick glare and strode past him out of the tent. Genesis followed him after a few seconds, and they were almost out of the camp before he managed to speak again.

Turning back to the infantrymen, Genesis asked "If this isn't the SOLDIER camp, then what are you doing here?"

"That's the business of the Shinra Science Department, not infantry or SOLDIER. All I know is that Professor Hojo is here doing some work that is related to some of his experiments."

Genesis just nodded and ran to catch up with Angeal.

They walked in silence the entire way back to Banora, arriving home just as the sun began to set.

xxxXXXxxxXXXxxx

Genesis smiled as he remembered the lecture that he and Angeal had received from their parents when they got back. It was one of the worst that they had ever gotten, and they had been forced to do some of the worst and most tedious chores imaginable for weeks.

Turning away from the gathering of items, Genesis walked down the path to a deeper section of the cave and continued his work in searching for the gift of the goddess, the solution to his degradation.

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I'm not sure how much I like the ending of this, Genesis seems a _little_ bit OoC to me, but please leave me some reviews and let me know what you all think!


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